Holidays are Upon Us

As everyone in the US celebrates Thanksgiving, the holiday season starts. Every year, many people buy beautiful poinsettas to decorate churches, homes and holiday shopping displays. During a Saturday afternoon walk in our new neighborhood, I saw a lovely TREE with bright red blossoms. It was a Poinsetta!! Here you see the tree overhanging the lane. Above a closeup with a pretty butterfly. There is an abondance of very large and different types of butterflies in Hanoi.

You will also notice the multitude of electric wires. This is very common here. Apparently when a house gets hooked up to the circuit they add a wire. When something goes wrong, they add another wire. But don't take down the old wire. The result is a ton of wires that useless and forgotten. I read somewhere that over 50% of the wires are unclaimed. The city has asked people to claim the wires that they use. They plan to put all city center wires underground by 2010. The other interesting wire fact is that 4 men were sentenced to 21 years combined for stealing some of this wire and selling it for scrap. The conviction was basically a crime against the state as the wires are property of the government owned electric company. They are useless and unclaimed, but don't think that you can just take them!